A Russian court on Thursday (January 20th) sentenced to terms ranging from 13 to 18 years in prison four men accused of having tried to import nearly 400 kilos of cocaine hidden in the Russian embassy in Argentina, an incredible affair which has makes a lot of noise.
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The Dorogomilovsky court in Moscow sentenced Andrei Kovalchuk, the alleged mastermind of the group, to 18 years in prison, his lawyer Sergei Youroch told AFP.
The former steward of the Russian embassy in Buenos Aires, Ali Abianov, was sentenced to 17 years in prison, while two other defendants -- Vladimir Kalmykov and Ichtimir Khoudjamov -- who had tried to recover the drugs in Moscow according to investigators, were sentenced to 13 and 16 years in prison respectively, according to Russian news agencies.
389 kilos of cocaine seized
The four protagonists firmly maintained their innocence during the trial. The prosecution had requested sentences against them ranging from 15 to 19 years in prison. The case, worthy of a gangster movie, was revealed by the Argentine Interior Ministry in February 2018. According to the Argentine authorities, 389 kilos of cocaine, hidden in suitcases, were discovered on December 13, 2016 in a school located within the grounds of the Russian embassy, after the description of the ambassador then in post.
The investigators had gone the same evening to the wholesale market in Buenos Aires to buy 400 kilos of flour.
The cocaine had been replaced by flour and tags placed inside the suitcases to trace the transaction.
In the months that followed, the members of the network, some of whom worked at the embassy, tried several times, in vain, to send the flour to Russia, under the surveillance of a team of Russian and Argentine investigators.
According to Buenos Aires, it was ultimately the Russian government that provided a plane to transfer the suitcases to Moscow on December 12, 2017.
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According to investigators, the drug, "
of very high purity
" and worth around 50 million euros, was destined for Russia, the Netherlands and Germany, where the brain alleged member of the gang, Andrei Kovalchuk, was arrested in March 2018 and then extradited to Moscow.
Two other Russian suspects, also of Argentine nationality, are currently on trial in Argentina.
The case sparked allegations in several media about the possible involvement of officials and diplomats in the trafficking.
